Cht 2
Cassidy fumed silently the entire way to DC. Once there, she noted the many turns and obvious back tracking they did to keep her suitably unaware of where they were headed. It only frustrated her more. The black cloth sack over her face screened her view of her exact whereabouts and the FBI agents who flanked her in the vehicle. Reddington, who was riding in the second vehicle, was accompanied by none other than Elizabeth Keen/Masha Rostova. It did not surprise her at all.
Ever since she went on the lam after killing the attorney general, most everyone had put two and two together and realized that Reddington must have been working with Elizabeth through the FBI. It smarted a little, but Cassidy understood the need. At the same time, Cassidy hoped he understood why she had done what she had.
It had taken her seven years of working in the field of counterintelligence, interviewing sources, debriefing people overseas, interrogating criminals, but she had finally landed the lead that got her Reddington. When she seeded the disinformation that a former associate of Reddington's was stationed on Ft Meade as contract support for their intelligence officers, she watched and waited until he showed up looking for his old colleague. The day she caught sight of Dembe Zuma casing the place, she knew she had him. Within days, he walked right into the intel office asking for Samuel Dutton, and the undercover CI officials arrested him. It was almost too easy.
Now, riding in a vehicle surrounded by suits, she realized that he played her instead of the other way around. As he had been for years, Raymond Reddington was several steps ahead.
She shuffled slowly, being led into the black site with her cover still intact. From the sound of things, she was in a large room with various machines (likely computers) and people shuffling around as though in an office setting. Sure enough, when they removed her blinder she saw that she was centered in the hub of a command center, large projection screens and smart boards, harried looking analysts furiously typing away at reports or researching leads. The cacophony of intelligence gathering played out in a hum of hushed voices, clacking keys, printers whirring. And there, straight ahead, he stood watching her as she took it all in.
"So," Reddington beamed, "Sergeant Scott. Or shall I call you Cassidy now?"
"Call me whatever you want," she replied grimly. "This is apparently your show."
He laughed airily, "I am merely one of the main players on a very large board, Cassidy my dear."
His mouth worked as he rolled his tongue in his mouth and looked her up and down. She took two steps forward and stopped, hesitating at the people in her periphery who stood by watching the exchange. She drew herself up, calling on all the bravado she had.
"So what is my part in this then?" she queried shrugging. "Why am I here?"
"Oh sweetheart," Red breathed, shaking his head softly. "You can fill in a lot of gaps. Fit together a lot of puzzles. You hold pieces we need."
"You could fill in a lot of gaps too," she said, sparing a glance at Elizabeth. "Why don't you anyway?"
"Much more fun this way," Red laughed.
Cassidy bit back a grin at his shamelessness. He had wanted her here, she realized. He had known she was looking for him and orchestrated this whole maneuver. She leaned a bit, tilting her head to the side and then shaking it. "Oh Mr Reddington, I think you've shown your hand a bit there. You want me here to help answer questions?"
"As it happens, the task force here has many, many questions that I'm sure you in your rarified profession can answer. It seems so ineffectual to guard information so closely to the vest, doesn't it? You work for the government, we work for the government—some of us more so than others—but I digress…I think it's high time we should compare notes. Don't you agree, Harold?"
At this, Director Harold Cooper stepped forward and shook her hand. "That we do, sergeant. In fact, we have cleared it with your superiors to have you brought on as part of the team to act as a sort of emissary and intermediary from the military intel field to ours. It's high time we started sharing intel in areas we have mutual interests in. That is, if you want to continue here. If not, we can escort you out the same way you came in and you'll never be the wiser about any of the goings on here."
He hesitated a moment smiling slightly, as if he already knew her answer.
"Agent Navabi is in a similar situation. She is Mossad," Cooper said, gesturing toward a tall West Asian woman. "And yet, we cross check information with each other on cases we're working on that coincide."
She looked at the sea of faces and saw a few she could not identify. She locked eyes with Elizabeth, who was watching her bemusedly as if Cassidy herself was a puzzle. Cassidy offered her a smile of understanding and knew suddenly that the woman had no idea who and what she really was. Why in the world wouldn't the man come up off this knowledge for her, Cassidy wondered. That pang of sympathy, along with the fact that she would not rather be anywhere other than with the frustrating man smiling amusedly at her, had her giving a quick nod.
"Well then," Cooper gestured broadly. "Welcome to the team." He introduced her to Elizabeth, Navabi, Agent Mojtabai, a tall drink of water with a tight little ass—she would have to revisit him later—and Agent Ressler, who seemed downright stuffy and a little too by-the-book. Finally she faced Reddington again and took a deep breath.
"Well guys, I suppose in the interest of fairness, I should explain my name."
"Yes, Scott is actually my maiden name—" Elizabeth began.
Cassidy cut her off with a curt nod. "I know, I helped name you."
"Sorry?" Elizabeth shook her head, nonplussed.
"Scott was my grandmother's maiden name. On my dad's side. Elizabeth was my best friend growing up in Virginia, before we moved to Maryland."
"How would—how could you possibly have helped name me?" Elizabeth laughed nervously.
"My father named you," Cassidy shrugged. "I helped."
"Your father?"
"I changed my name as well, seven years ago. Right before I joined the Army. I chose Cassidy, because it's what my father wanted to call me. And I chose Scott, because it was the family name that we used for you. I knew that if I ever saw you again, it may jog your memory."
"What was your name before?" Elizabeth asked, though it appeared the answer was dawning on her already.
Cassidy gestured to Reddington, who simply smiled broadly. "Jennifer…Reddington."